Drinmore Novice Chase option at Fairyhouse for Cadmium


The Drinmore Novice Chase at Fairyhouse has emerged as a possible target for Cadmium following his return to winning ways at Punchestown last week.

The Willie Mullins-trained six-year-old dominated his rivals in a two-mile handicap chase at the Punchestown Festival in April and followed up at Roscommon during the summer.

He disappointed when a hot favourite at the Galway Festival and was beaten by Ornua on his return to Roscommon earlier this month, but comprehensively turned the tables on that rival when landing the Grade Three Buck House Novice Chase last Wednesday.

Winning jockey Ruby Walsh nominated the Craddockstown Novice Chase back at Punchestown on November 17 as a likely target, but the Drinmore on December 2 is a potential alternative.

Steve Massey, racing manager for the owners Supreme Horse Racing, said: "We were delighted to see him bounce back. We were a bit disappointed with him at Galway and Roscommon, but he obviously likes Punchestown and he's definitely a better horse on a big, galloping track.

"He saw out the two and a quarter miles really well. Given he's two from two at Punchestown, coming back to two miles in the Craddockstown is an obvious target, but Willie has also mentioned the Drinmore at Fairyhouse.

"That would be stepping up to two and a half miles in a Grade One, but looking at the way he finished the other day, you'd like to think he could stay two and a half miles if the ground is right.

"We'll see what conditions are like nearer the time. If we get a wet couple of weeks he'd probably go to Punchestown, but if it looked like we might get good ground at Fairyhouse, we might wait for that.

"He's only a novice until the Fairyhouse meeting, so we want to run him somewhere before he loses his novice status if we can.

"He's been on the go since January, so we might give him one more run and then give him a break, but we'll leave that up to Willie."

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